Draco in Confusionland
by racheesi
Summary: Draco and Blaise, having just completed their sixth year of Hogwarts, set out to complete a school project over their summer holiday. This ends up opening doors to emotions that neither Blaise nor Draco had expected to feel. Cowritten with IvySnowe.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Characters, places, and other various proper nouns belong to J.K. Rowling. (Also, a big honking thanks to Janet Evanovich, as Blaise is loosely based on a character from her Stephanie Plum series... if you haven't read them, I really recommend doing so ^.^ )

**Warning:** Boy on Boy love... later in the fic. Not this chapter... but later.

**Authors' Note: **Well, this started out as another oneshot idea between me (_R__acheesi_) and _IvySnowe_ ..... We worked on it and worked on it, and it eventually turned into a 50 page (in small font) situation. I have divided it into chapters and I'll post them every few days. There are 10 chapters total... we'd still love to hear feedback as we could change a few things in later chapters... Anyway, without further ranting, here's Draco in Confusionland! Enjoy!

As soon as I stepped into the manor, there was a house elf to remove my cloak and take the luggage floating low to the ground behind me. Per usual, the manor was silent and dreary. I told mother it needed brightening up. As amazing as I look, even I have trouble making this place look fantastic with just my mere presence. Scratch that, nothing about me is mere.

I called out for my mother, having expected her to be waiting for me like she has every other time I've returned from Hogwarts. One of the house elves must have noticed my slightly perplexed expression, as he quickly informed me, in that eardrum shattering register that all members of the species seemed to have, that my mother wasn't at home and that she left me a letter to explain her absence.

I picked up my mother's note as I got home from my sixth year at Hogwarts.

_Sweetie,_

_I have to go to France to meet with your father's lawyer.  
I will most likely stay there until the trial is over.  
Sorry I couldn't pick you up and have fun on your little trip with Blaise!_

_Kisses,_

_N._

My mother insisted I called her Narcissa. She maintains that "mother", "mum", or any other form of that title makes her feel old. I sat at the large dark wooden table in the smaller dining room of the Malfoy Manor and nibbled on a turkey sandwich. I really had nothing to do this summer, what with my father in Azkaban awaiting his trial for war crimes, Death Eater shit, blah, blah , blah, and my mother having frequent late-night "meetings" with the family lawyer. I decided to go with my closest friend, Blaise Zabini, to pick up his sister, Contessa, from the Salem Witches Institute in Massachusetts in the United States. As I munched, I thought about what I should pack. First would be my entire wardrobe (hey, if I can shrink it, it would be a waste to not pack everything). Next I should round up my hair supplies, then the shower things, then... hmmm. I wondered if Blaise would let me bring a house elf. Probably not. Hmph. He's no fun.

-------

I had just finished shrinking everything when I heard the loud ringing of the doorbell echo throughout the manor. As I walked down the hallway to let Blaise in, I yelled behind me. "Hey! Get that stuff!" Almost immediately I had a substantial amount of house elves carrying small bags filled with practically all of my things. That's right. I said house elves. Suck it, Granger.

I got to the door and swung it open. Blaise stood there looking like typical Blaise. Dark jeans hugged his legs in a way that made practically every female (and a decent amount of males) in Hogwarts drool after him. An almost painted on white tee shirt hid beneath a butter soft black leather jacket. Peeking above the shirt's collar was the silver-black tip of the wing of a Thestral, which Blaise had tattooed across his chest and right side (Draco knew this because he had gotten a similar one with a dragon at the same time). Dark brown-black hair curled against his shoulders, almost begging for a haircut. I let Blaise into the atrium and he shut the door behind him, leaning his back against its frame. He crossed his arms across his chest and gave a minimal nod, the Blaise version of a bear hug. The corners of his lips tipped up slightly at the sight of the swarm of house elves behind me, carrying bags filled with all of my shrunken things. "Nice." he said, humor evident in his tone.

"Hey! How am I supposed to know what I will and will not need? Always be prepared, I say." I defended.

"Right."

"What?"

A chuckle escaped his lips. "Nothing."

I shot him a look, narrowing my eyes for emphasis on my suspicion of him, before crossing my own arms and looking around expectantly.

"Well, are we leaving soon, or are we just going to stand around here admiring the wonder that is me?"

He only rolled his eyes and motioned with his head for me to follow after him, as he led the way back out of the manor and to what had to have been his car. A sleek black thing, that even I must admit, was one hell of a beauty. A Porsche Boxster. I have no idea where he even found out such a thing existed, but muggles do have their moments. I'll let them have this one, at least.

We loaded everything in the car in record time and I angled myself into the passenger seat. Blaise was already in the driver's seat. This car was set up American-style with the driver on the left and the passenger on the right. Bloody confusing Americans. As he started the car, the sounds of soft relaxing jazz filled the car. No. This would not do. I need something loud, angry, and with lots of yelling and drums. I hit buttons until I found just that. Just as I was leaning back into my soft leather seat, Blaise leaned over and changed the radio station back. I changed it again. Then him.

"Hey!" I grumbled

"Driver." was Blaise's reply.

"So? Like I care." and I changed it back. Almost immediately, Blaise's hand shot out and hit three buttons in rapid succession. I barely had time to register each change. First, a shock hit the car (which I later found out was a sort of invisibility-type cloaking device). Then, I was thrown back as the car was thrust up into the sky. "What the HELL?!?" I yelled as I looked over at Blaise, who seemed as calm as he had while leaning against my front door. It was then I noticed that the radio station was back to that jazz crap.

"Bastard." I mumbled, crossing my arms in front of me.

The corners of his lips tipped up.

I scowled in response. If Blaise ever says it was a pout, he is a lying bastard and I will kick him. All to the sounds of his soulful jazz crap. Show him to like that stuff...

We flew for what had to have been hours, all while listening to this....stuff of his, before I decided to have a little fun. Which basically entailed me tapping my fingers on the dashboard. It beats air drums, which is really unrefined. After a while, I felt my eyes start to drift shut.

-----

I was comfy. Very comfy. Sleep and happiness and comfort. Who the hell was poking me?

"Time to get up, princess."

"Fuck you, Blaise."

"No thanks. We're here."

I flipped him off and tilted my head back. Some would call it haughty. I would probably agree.

"Okay, what now? Do we find your sibling or is she just going to come find us? Because, really, Blaise, both options have their good and bad points. Most of them involve me being forced to look like some tourist." I was glancing around the entire time, trying to look unimpressed. Mostly because I was. Unimpressed.

"We're going in."

"Ew."

"Draco. All girls school."

I bounced up and scrambled to unlock my door. "Let's go, then."

We walked hurriedly into the building. Well, I did, Blaise sort of meandered behind me in that cool Italian way he has. I hate him sometimes. I stopped just inside the building, tapping my foot impatiently while he caught up to me. I mean, honestly, we were here for his sister, you'd think the prat would hurry up. Actually, I wouldn't know, having missed out one the 'joy' of having a sibling myself. Thank Merlin.

We stood inside the door and I looked at Blaise and asked, "So, what now, oh wise guide?"

Blaise shrugged and waited for the first female to walk by us. I'd say she was about 16 or 17. Blaise smiled at her (not the small barely there smile, the full teeth-showing grin). She walked into a wall just as I rolled my eyes.

"Headmaster's office, please?" Blaise asked, still smiling at the embarassed girl. She wasted no time pointing us in the right direction. Although, I have no idea how we actually got there, as she was staring at Blaise in his tall dark and... smiley glory. Did I just say that? Shit. I did. Ew.

We stepped into the headmaster's office and I glanced around. These people sure did things differently, I mean, really, who puts the headmaster's office so reachable to the public? We knocked on the door and a voice called to let ourselves in. Weird.

Raising and eyebrow at Blaise, I did what the disembodied voice told us to, and opened the door. And immediately froze upon catching sight of who had to be the headmaster...or I suppose...headmistress. Merlin, she looks barely old enough to be a graduate herself.

"Can I help you, boys?"

It took Blaise and I a couple seconds to regain our ability to talk. Blaise spoke up first. "We're here to pick up Contessa Zabini."

"Pardon?"

"Contessa. Zabini."

"And you are..?"

"Her brother, Blaise Zabini." Blaise offered his hand to the woman to shake. She shook his extended hand.

"Is there some sort of emergency, Mr. Zabini?"

"No, there is no emergency. We were told to pick her up on May 10th for summer holiday."

The woman was silent for a few beats. "I think you might be mistaken, sir. We complete our spring term on _June_ 10th."

Blaise looked calm but I could tell he was severely ticked off. His jaw was clamped shut and his lips were pulled tight. "Will you please call my sister down here?" he all but growled.

The headmistress gazed at the two of us for a long moment before, leaning over to the floo (at least one thing is recognizable in this place) and having a brief conversation with someone on the other end. After a few minutes, she straightened back up and brushed the non-existant soot from her shoulders and turned back to us.

"Miss Zabini will be joining us momentarily," she gave us another once over and I had to restrain myself from sneering. Honestly, you'd think we looked like the worst sort, just by how she kept eyeing the two of us.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." the quieter of the two of us said.

"I'm sure." she said with the sneer.

"Excuse me," I spoke up "Do you have a problem?"

"Pardon?"

"You obviously have some sort of issue with us being here." So I was being cranky. Big deal. "We were told to be here today to pick up his sister. This is in no way Blaise's fault so you can quit the bitchiness. Remove the wand from your ass and let's figure out why in Merlin's name we are here a month early."

Her eyes widened and she stood up. I could feel Blaise practically sigh, but he didn't. He's not really for outward expression and all that. I only prepped. I crossed my arms and eyed her, once again very umimpressed with what this school had to offer.

"I assure you, sir-" The horrid woman was interrupted by a knock on the door. The woman sighed and put on an obviously faked smile. "Come in, Contessa."

After a moment's silence, the door was opened by Blaise's younger sister. You could tell that the gorgeous in their blood was definitely a strong trait in that family. While Blaise was tall and handsome, Contessa was beautiful and petite, but not in a weak way. You could see the strength and stubbornness in her eyes, another trait the siblings shared. At the moment her nearly black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that was thick and fell down to her lower back, and unlike most girls I knew, she barely wore any makeup, just enough but never too much. She was confident in her looks, but not stuck up. Thankfully. Or else she would have been a pain in the arse to have around. She smiled when she saw Blaise and me. "Hi guys!!"

"Miss Zabini. We seem to have come to some sort of misunderstanding."

"Oh?" Contessa questioned, eyes wide, trying to hide her smirk.

" 'Tessa, you told us to come pick up you up today. Apparently, you don't get out of school for another month." Blaise turned to her. Wow. He said two sentences. I'm impressed.

"Oh!" Contessa giggled "Whoops!"

Everyone could only stare at her blankly, almost as if we were all stunned by how insincere that sounded. You'd think she'd have some consideration for me and how she's interrupting my schedule by having me come all the way down here to this...country to pick her up from school. Oh, and Blaise too, I guess.

"Miss Zabini, it's hard to believe you could make such a mistake." that woman said, staring disapprovingly at Blaise's sister. She replied, all smiles. I didn't believe the wench for a minute. Blaise didn't either, I'm sure.

"Honestly, Headmistress, I must have just written down the wrong date, I wasn't expecting Blaise or Draco for another month."

"Well, since we came down here and all, you might as well just let her out early, I'm sure she can afford to miss the last month at this...facility of yours." I couldn't help taking another jab at the woman.

"I can't do that!" Contessa cried anxiously "I need to stay until June!"

"What to you suggest, then?" Blaise all but growled

"Uhm..." Contessa paused, but not long quite long enough to make it believable. This girl really needed to work on her lying. If she was at Hogwarts, there's no way in hell she'd be a Slytherin. "What about that Muggle Studies project you wrote me about? What if you guys went on like...a road trip or something?"

Oh _hell_ no. I hate Muggle Studies and am only taking it because it is required now. I had every intention of bullshitting this assignment to an inch of its life. We have to spend 'a significant amount of time' doing something 'Muggle'. Yuck. "Contessa, I do not-"

Blaise interrupted me with an uncharacteristic sigh. "You know, that's not a bad idea."

I blinked.

Then blinked again.

"What?!"

He only raised an eyebrow at me in amusement.

"It is a good idea," Contessa piped in. Nosey little snot. "I know how serious you both are about school and this project is very important, so you might as well do a road trip and have a nice time together."

"What exactly does this-" I gulped "- 'road trip' entail?"

Contessa giggled and clapped her hands together gleefully. "You drive around and you stay in hotels and things and you see fun things everywhere. They're so much fun!"

I rolled my eyes as Blaise stood. "Fine. We'll be leaving." He nodded to the headmistress "One month, then?"

"Correct, Mr. Zabini."

"Good. We'll see ourselves out. 'Tessa? I need to speak with you before we leave."

We left the office with Contessa following us. When we got to the door, Blaise turned around and faced his sister. I saw his face. Angry. I knew better and I backed up a few steps and decided to occupy myself by staring at the various females walking around. Then, I decided eavesdropping was a better idea, as I was unimpressed with the, ahem, caliber of girls this school had to offer.

"Contessa Zabini." he growled.

"Yes?" her eyes were wide.

"Quit the act, 'Tessa. Try anything like this again, and you are in for it."

"I know. But remember... you love me!" She smiled sweetly.

Blaise sighed and chuckled softly. "Against my better judgment, I do. I'll see you in a month, 'Tessa."

And just like that, we were out of that horrid building and back in the car.

"I really don't like your sister. I mean. What are we supposed to do? Spend the whole month driving around?"

Blaise sighed.

"Fine, Blaise, but we are going to stay in the best places, because I'm not going to be stuck living like some poor, tacky person."

Blaise only started the car in response, while I crossed my arms and glared out the window.

"And pick someplace good. I don't want to be completely bored out of my mind."

"Yes, princess."

"And how are we going to get muggle money?"

Blaise pulled an envelope of muggle money out of his pocket. I wasn't sure how this muggle money worked. It just looked like a stack of paper. It was a really big stack, so that seemed good. "'Tessa. She knows how to change our money into muggle money."

Well, at least the little rat is good for something.

The car set off, I assumed Blaise had an idea of where exactly we're going. Because I sure as fuck didn't. I'm no seer, but I had a feeling that, once we left the school grounds, it would be downhill from there. "Where are we going? How long is it going to take? Can we stop for doughnuts? I'm hungry!" I know I sounded... concerned. Be aware that Malfoy's do _not _whine.

Blaise just stared at me. Probably he was thinking about tossing me out of the moving car, but seriously. It's hard to live without me. Finally he spoke. "Hotel, I don't know, No, and I don't care."

I was floored. "Hotel?!? Ew! It better be a damn good hotel! I don't want to sleep _anywhere_ where _anyone_ has _ever_ slept before."

"You'll live."

I crossed my arms with a "Humph". Jerk.

After a few hours of me trying not to get caught throwing trip jinxes and a mild, very mild mind you, stinging hex at some snot nosed little brat for sticking his tongue out at me as we passed him, we finally pulled into the hovel...er, hotel. I didn't move from the car as Blaise opened the door and stretched, his shirt riding up just a few centimeters to bare his skin for all the world to see. Or...just me as I was the only other fool in the general area.

I scowled and averted my gaze, looking at the building disdainfully instead.

"You have got to be fucking joking. I am getting all sorts of diseases by just _looking_ at this place!" I grumbled, still sitting in the car. Blaise leaned down and looked at me through his open door.

"You either go in here or I will take the car and you'll have to, Merlin forbid, walk around until you find someone to help you. A muggle someone." He smiled.

"Firstly, I'm pretty sure that's the most you've ever said at one time. Secondly, you wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

I sighed and opened my door, getting out in the most annoyed, disgruntled way that any person can get out of a car. When I do something, I do it better than anyone else. Remember this.

I could tell the smug bastard was smirking, but I only shot a glare at him and moved towards what had to be entrance to this establishment. I subtly used a cleaning charm on the door handle before I touched it and went inside. I only needed to look around the lobby once before panic set in. I put a hand to Blaise's arm, surprisingly he stopped. "I'm um.... going to go and get the things out of the car... come get me when you find a room?"

Blaise turned and stared at me, a smirk on his face. "You're going to go and sit by the car and wait for me to come out so I can carry everything in, right?"

I was already walking out of the lobby. "Damn right."

-----------------------------

**A/N: **And so ends the first chapter of our newest adventure in the lives of Draco and Blaise. Please read, review, and send love. We really appreciate it. Thanks!  
_Racheesi _&_ IvySnowe _


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** People, places, and other proper nouns belong to J.K. Rowling.... Blaise is loosely based on a character from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.

**Warning: **Boy on boy... later.... probably not this chapter....

_I sighed and opened my door, getting out in the most annoyed, disgruntled way that any person can get out of a car. When I do something, I do it better than anyone else. Remember this._

_I could tell the smug bastard was smirking, but I only shot a glare at him and moved towards what had to be entrance to this establishment. I subtly used a cleaning charm on the door handle before I touched it and went inside. I only needed to look around the lobby once before panic set in. I put a hand to Blaise's arm, surprisingly he stopped. "I'm um.... going to go and get the things out of the car... come get me when you find a room?"_

_Blaise turned and stared at me, a smirk on his face. "You're going to go and sit by the car and wait for me to come out so I can carry everything in, right?"_

_I was already walking out of the lobby. "Damn right."_

--------------------------------

As soon as Blaise and I got into the hotel room, Blaise placed my bags on the furthest bed from the door. I looked over to Blaise and asked if he wanted the shower first. He nodded so I started going through all of my shrunken clothes to find something to change into after it was my turn in the shower. Shit! I knew I forgot something. Underwear. I snuck a glance to Blaise's single, normal-sized duffel bag. Hmm. Maybe he had a pair that I could charm copies of, then disinfect. Thoroughly.

I was pawing through Blaise's bag when the shower door opened and Blaise walked out with a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. 'Yep' I thought to myself 'That is probably the best body to come out of Italy.'

"Draco?" Blaise said, humor lacing his tone, his left eyebrow raised. I explained the underwear situation to him and he chuckled. "Only you could pack that much and forget something."

"Shut up!" I mumbled "Now where the hell do you keep your underwear?" I was throwing things out of his bag now and not finding anything. I looked up to see Blaise staring at me. I couldn't tell, but he was either fighting the urge to laugh or kill me. Then the silence hit me.

"Shit." I said, amused "You go commando!"

Blaise smiled the rare, full, time-stopping smile.

I gulped.

I looked down and gathered my things, before straightening and heading into the bathroom myself and taking a quick shower, not letting myself think of my best friends habit. Once out of the shower I toweled off quickly and dressed, spending a good amount of time on my hair and getting it to fall just so. Yeah, I primp. What of it? It takes time to look as amazing as me. Good thing I'm already gorgeous as it is, or I'd be in here forever.

I got out of the bathroom and stared at Blaise. He was leaning back on his bed, his eyes closed, and one of his arms folded behind his head. He looked... peaceful.

"Quit staring." he mumbled. I just about jumped out of my skin.

"I need to go shopping. Now."

"Now?"

"Now, dammit!"

"Go without."

"Go without underwear? No. Merlin no. Fuck no. Hell no."

Blaise sighed and lifted himself off the bed and grabbed his keys. "Fine. Make this quick. And afterward we go drinking."

"Why?"

"So I can forget the fact that I just went shopping with you."

After I managed to find a shop suitable for my tastes, and I bought the things I needed Blaise hurried me up to get into the car...and by hurried me up, he walked in that single minded pace of his that leaves no room for stragglers. Bastard. As we were driving I realized I would have to make us fake ID's if we wanted to actually drink, so I pulled out my wand and got to it, making one for Blaise and myself. I smirked at my friends ID and tossed it at his head while he drove, he didn't even bother to look at it. Eventually we found a bar that I had no intentions of going into. Blaise picked up his fallen ID and glared at it for a moment once he caught on to what I had done. His ID was his photo alright, but his name...I may have tweaked his name to read 'Ashley'. Ah, how I love to press his buttons. I glanced up at the bar again and made a face, but he had already gotten out and shut the door by the time I had crossed my arms and got ready to complain about the disgusting look of the place.

I eventually got out of the car and into the bar. I couldn't find Blaise at first. Maybe that was because I was taken aback by the grime factor of this... establishment. I was going to have to severely disinfect myself after this. I looked around and saw that most of the women in the bar were focused on a central point. I followed their line of vision and found Blaise sitting at the far end of the bar, drinking a bottle of Corona. I went over to talk to him.

"You know, you have nearly every female in this place eyeing you. I say nearly as now the greater bunch of them are looking at me. They are extremely lucky to have me come into this place. Oh, and you too, I suppose." I glanced around the bar, trying to decide if I wanted anything to drink. Maybe something straight out of a bottle like Blaise was doing, because there was no way in hell I was putting my mouth on anything that was washed in this place. No way. I sighed and went back to talking to Blaise, overlooking the fact that he was pointedly not looking at me.

"Is that 'Corona' thing even any good? It looks far too pale for me to like. Hm...Blaise. Blaise. Blaise Blaise." Yes, I know it was immature, but he was ignoring me, I had to annoy him back, "Blaise, is that any good? It's supposed to be beer, right? Is it good? It's practically named after a part of an eyeball. I don't think I'd want to drink that."

The man was ignoring me! What nerve! I got one of those Corona things and sat myself in an opposite corner, trying to look angrily at Blaise while still remaining ruggedly handsome. I looked around disinterestedly and saw a girl walking toward me. She was pretty, in a way-too-made-up-to-look-excessively-slutty way. She sauntered up to me and gave me a sickeningly sweet smile. Normally, I'd be very much into this, but for some reason, unbeknownst to me, I was kind of disgusted.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before," Wow, that was pretty cliché, even for me, "Would you like some company?" She reached out and placed a hand on my arm. My eyebrow twitched and I flashed her a charming smile, pulling my arm away from her as she began to smirk.

"No, I'm perfectly content with my present company. As in, no one. You can run a long now." That wiped the smirk off of her face pretty quickly. She had just about plastered herself against me and murmured in my ear. "Now, you don't mean that." Faster than I could push her away, a hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her back.

"He does." Blaise growled.

The harlot and I both stared up at Blaise, completely shocked by his actions. He's not one to get like that, so I was fucking shocked to say the least.

"Oh, and who are you, his body guard?" She whined, jerking her arm out of his hold. It didn't take much; he had a loose hold on her anyway.

Blaise angled himself in between the girl and me. I could only see his back, but I knew what he looked like when he was pissed off. I was even scared for the girl. "Go. Now."

The girl looked terrified and just about ran out of the bar.

I cleared my throat and took another pull from my beer, watching from the corner of my eye.

"She's gone, Blaise. You can stop glaring like you're going to Avada the whole room."

Blaise turned to me and one eyebrow raised slightly, Blaise's equivalent of an elaborate eye roll, and he stalked back to his seat. About an hour or so passed before another confrontation broke out in the bar. This time neither Blaise nor I were involved, but we were both watching with interest. Two very large, muscular men were closing in on this smaller, slightly chunky, slightly balding, and very scared guy like lions after their prey.

"P-p-please s-stop... p-please. L-l-l-leave m-me alone..." the smaller man quietly murmured, looking as though he wanted to sink into the floor. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blaise tense up. This spiked my curiosity. The words of the smaller man seemed to only spurn on the thugs that were having a go at him.

"L-l-l-leave you al-l-lone? W-why?" They teased. Even I can admit that the smirks on their faces were moving on to cruel as they began to close in on him, "But that st-t-t-tutter is so much fun, little man."

The other idiot nodded in agreement, shoving the small man back towards a corner. Before the smaller man could say anything, Blaise was up and out of his chair, placing himself between the two men and their prey.

"Back off." Blaise all but snarled.

"Aww." One of the men said, "He's got himself a guard dog."

"I said back the fuck off." Blaise repeated. His nostrils were flared and, hell, even _I_ was scared.

"Listen, punk. This is between us and the l-l-l-little g-g-guy." the other man laughed.

Next thing I knew, Blaise's fist made contact with one man's nose. I could hear the cracking bone from where I was sitting. The other man reacted fast, but not fast enough. Blaise almost immediately had him facedown on the ground, holding the man's arm at a very uncomfortable-looking angle. "Back. Off." He repeated again, then stood up, glared at me and murmured "We're leaving." and left the bar. Yes sir. I hopped up and almost ran after him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: ** It's all J.K.'s

**Warning:** Boy on boy.

**A.N.: **I'm so sorry to you all! I had every intention of posting these chapters a few days apart from each other and then I went on a family vacation and abandoned the computer entirely! I promise I will make it up to you guys! (Racheesi)

_Next thing I knew, Blaise's fist made contact with one man's nose. I could hear the cracking bone from where I was sitting. The other man reacted fast, but not fast enough. Blaise almost immediately had him facedown on the ground, holding the man's arm at a very uncomfortable-looking angle. "Back. Off." He repeated again, then stood up, glared at me and murmured "We're leaving." and left the bar. Yes sir. I hopped up and almost ran after him._

I got into the car, it was deadly silent as Blaise pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the hotel, I couldn't help but tap my fingers nervously against my knee, watching Blaise from out of the corner of my eye. He was only staring stoically towards the front, driving with his fingers gripping the wheel. Hell, he was fucking mad.

"So....um..." I awkwardly murmured in my own little sad attempt to break the angry silence. "Did you know that guy?"

Blaise didn't talk, but I'm pretty sure he growled.

"Er... You okay?"

Another noise. This one was more grunt-like than the growl.

"Anything I can do?"

I saw his knuckles turn white as they wrapped tighter around the steering wheel. Fifteen silent, scary minutes later, we pulled into the hotel's parking lot. Blaise slowly unwrapped his fingers from the steering wheel, took a deep breath, and got out of the car. I followed him into the room and watched as he sat down on the edge of his bed. Finally he spoke. His voice was full of anger and hate and it was so quiet I had to strain my ears to hear him.

"I was that guy."

I blinked.

"The guy you beat up? No you're not. You've never been like that."

"No," he spoke quietly still, "I was the guy they were picking on."

There was a few moments silence.

"What? When? I've known you nearly all our lives, Blaise, you've never stuttered."

Blaise shook his head and I thought about it for a couple of seconds. Now that I think about it, I barely even heard him speak until we were about-

"Twelve." Blaise mumbled, as if interrupting my thoughts. "I went through speech therapy at a smaller place run by St. Mungos. I didn't want anyone to treat me... the same way..." his voice caught slightly on his last couple words.

I knelt down in front of him and covered his hands, which were folded in this lap, with mine. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. And just so you know... I never would have..."

"I know." He raised his head up to look at me. His eyes were huge and a deep indigo color and just so... wow. Shit. Wow. Oh shit.

I don't know how long we stayed in that position before he stood, pulling his hands away from mine with the action and crossed his arms, walking across the room. I stood as well, but stayed where I was as he spoke.

"When they were...that poor guy, I was just like him and I couldn't stand to see the way he was being treated. I hate people like that..." he trailed off and shook his head, and hurriedly kicking off his shoes and flopping back down on the bed.

"Turn off the light, Draco, I'm tired."

"Blaise-" I started, wanting to hear more of, well, just about anything. I rarely hear Blaise talk so much and he almost never lets me know things about himself, how he feels and the like.

"I'm tired, Draco. Please."

What the hell? Did he just say 'Please'? Wow. I reluctantly turned off the light, stripped off my shirt, and climbed into my bed.

----------------------------

Awhile later, I woke up to the sound of a radio, some strange song playing that I never hoped to hear again. I blinked blearily at the light and rubbed my eyes, a hand moving absently through my hair as I sat up. I didn't see Blaise anywhere as I looked around, but that could possibly be because as soon as I sat up, I closed my eyes and decided sleep was needed and I could ignore the blaring radio.

A little while later... hell, it might have only been a few minutes later, I heard Blaise's voice, raspy from just waking up. "Turn that bloody thing off." Then, I heard him scrambling around, the sound of the radio being unplugged and then a crash as it hit a wall.

"Thanks man." I mumbled.

"Mmmm." Blaise grunted.

Then silence. Blissful silence. Yay sleep.

The next time I woke up, it was because my bladder had insisted that it needed to be emptied. I scowled and shoved the blankets off of me and stumbled to the bathroom, not even bothering to turn on the overhead light. I finished up my business and stumbled back to my bed, crashing into the desk that was conveniently placed near the bed. Genius people, really. Apparently the soft curses and shuffling noises were enough to wake up Blaise as he was scowling at me by the time I got back into bed. I flipped him off unthinkingly and collapsed onto my back, staring up at the ceiling.

"I hate time differences."

"Me too."

"What are we going to do today, Blaise?"

"I dunno, Draco. Now go back to sleep. It's still dark out."

"No shit. I'm pretty sure my shins are very aware of this."

"Go. Back. To. Sleep."

"Yes, ma'am!" I mumbled.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing!"

-----------------

The next time I woke up, it was actually light out. Blaise, however, was still sleeping. I got up to use the bathroom again, this time to make sure my hair looked adorably sleep-tousled. I passed Blaise's bed and stopped in my tracks. His shirt was off and the covers of his bed were bunched around his waist, revealing his extremely chiseled chest and abs and his smooth olive skin. His long hair was loose and curling around his face, giving him the appearance of some sort of mysterious angel.

Shit.

I needed to get out of this room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** A variety of characters, places, spells, etc. are J.K. Rowling's. Not ours.

**Warning**: Slashiness!

_The next time I woke up, it was actually light out. Blaise, however, was still sleeping. I got up to use the bathroom again, this time to make sure my hair looked adorably sleep-tousled. I passed Blaise's bed and stopped in my tracks. His shirt was off and the covers of his bed were bunched around his waist, revealing his extremely chiseled chest and abs and his smooth olive skin. His long hair was loose and curling around his face, giving him the appearance of some sort of mysterious angel._

__

Shit.

_I needed to get out of this room._

--------------------------

I threw on my tee shirt from the night before and ran down to the lobby. As I tried to erase the images form the last few minutes from my head, I flipped disinterestedly through the flyers advertising local attractions. I must have stood there for an hour or so when I heard a deep baritone voice from behind me, causing me to jump.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

I turned around and stared at Blaise. He was freshly showered and dressed in dark grey slacks and a skintight cream-colored Henley with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. My mouth went dry. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Draco?" Blaise's voice broke me out of my thoughts, referring to his earlier question.

"Oh!" I stumbled around and grabbed the closest leaflet to me and handed it to Blaise. "I… uh… was looking for places for us to go… for… y'know… the road trip thing."

Blaise took the flyer, smirking. He looked down at it and raised an eyebrow slightly. "World's largest ball of twine?"

I scowled and tore the flyer out of his hands, his amused voice and eyes were enough to remove thoughts of his half naked body (and fully naked, standing underneath the spray from the shower head and soaked from head to toe, body. Hey, I'm human, the thought had crossed my mind) from my head.

"What? You're the one whose sister so sweetly and evilly decided that we should wander around the country in search of amazing roadside attractions. I'm just doing my part to make sure that we're actually doing something and not just wandering around aimlessly and hoping that somehow we end up finding something worthwhile and not some crazy back roads person who wants to peel the skin from our bodies and wear it as a skin suit. I'm gorgeous, Blaise, I'd make an amazingly attractive skin suit!"

Yes, I knew I was babbling.

He only continued to watch me in amusement.

"Shut up you jerk. I'm not babbling! I'm only explaining my reasons for wanting to see a giant ball of twine. In fact, I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you. I'm Draco bloody Malfoy. I explain myself to no one! Stop patronizing me! Get in the damn car, we're going to look for that damn ball of twine whether you like it or not. I can't stand you, sometimes. I'm getting a souvenir and you are _damn well_ buying it for me."

I scowled and grabbed another handful of tourist attraction flyers, before heading out to the car, not even waiting for his royal pain-in-the-arse. I even slammed the door when I got in, which I assure you, made me feel really good. But then in the quiet of the car, because the jerk was taking his time, my mind maybe drifted back to thoughts of him asleep this morning and looking ridiculously gorgeous and fit and, Merlin I hate myself sometimes. Stupid Blaise and his stupid need to look good. Ugh. Stupid.

About twenty minutes later, Blaise finally got into the car and dropped two bags into my lap.

"Did you forget something in all of your huffy glory?" He drawled.

"_Excuse_ me? Huffy? I'll show you huffy, you-" I cut myself off as I opened the first bag. Inside of it was all of my luggage, packed neatly and shrunken. In the second bag was a hot steaming breakfast sandwich and a small container of deliciously greasy hash brown patties. I've never encountered muggle-made food that smelled this good.

" 'You-' what?" Blaise smirked.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. "Nothing. I'll forgive you. For now…. I guess."

"Lucky me." Blaise chuckled to himself, starting the car and taking off.

I reached into the bag containing the food and pulled out the breakfast sandwich, taking a hesitant bite, but my hesitance wasn't needed at all. It was delicious. I studiously ignored him as I ate breakfast, and once I was full, I decided to grace him with my presence again.

"Did you already eat? Because if not…there's half of the hash brown patties left and the same with my sandwich…you know, for just in case you haven't eaten yet. Because I know that you were kind of busy packing my things, and thanks for that, but um, did you eat?"

What. The. Hell.

Where has Draco Malfoy gone? He seems to have been replaced by some idiot with a 'my friend is really cute and I seem to possibly like him' complex. I'd like for this Draco to go away now, if at all possible.

Blaise laughed quietly and shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry."

"Oh okay… well.. thank you anyway!"

Blaise stayed silent as he stared at the road in front if him, occasionally pausing to look at the map on the… what was it called? GKR? QRS? Oh! GPS system. A few minutes later, he spoke up.

"Are you alright, Draco?"

Oh shit! Um.. what to say? What to say? "I'm fine, thanks." I said politely. Smooth.

He immediately pulled the car over onto the side of the road and slammed on the breaks. While I rubbed my shoulder from being slammed against the seatbelt, Blaise turned to me. He leaned his arm against the seat behind him. His eyes were dark and concerned. Hell, I was concerned, too.

"You are not."

"I am. I promise! Thank you for your concern, though. We can keep going now, thanks."

"You have just thanked me five times in the last five minutes. You have never thanked anyone that much in your lifetime." Blaise said, matter-of-factly. "You know you can tell me if anything is wrong."

"I. Am. Fine." I insisted. I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince more, him or me.

Blaise pulled back onto the road. "When you're ready to talk about it, just let me know."

Hah. Yeah. That will be… never.

We drove for a bit longer, Blaise focused on driving and me focused on anything but Blaise. I decided to look through all the flyers I'd grabbed in my hurry to escape Blaise…I mean…tactfully retreat. Bleh. Anyway, I read up on well-known American tourist attractions. Along with the world's largest ball of twine, there was the world's largest rodent, world's largest igloo, world's largest dinosaur dig. Hmm, America seems to have the corner on 'world's largest' things. I wonder if they had anything normal sized here. According to one flyer, apparently not. It seemed that things were bigger in Texas as well. I'm unsure if we're heading there. I would like to try this…chili thing that seemed to be all the rage there.

After what seemed like only a few moments to me, we pulled into a paved parking lot, the sound of the car turning off alerting me to the fact that we had apparently reached our destination. I hurriedly stuffed all the brochures and flyers into the spot between the armrest and the seat, before pushing open the door and getting out. Blaise was already making his way to the huge ball of…twine, well, that was pretty huge. I tried not to shudder, as we were not the only ones there. The place was crowded with families. Many of them in unflattering shorts and Hawaiian print shirts in eye catching shades of orange, yellow, and blue.

I dodged the horde of children that seemed to be everywhere, most of them with melted chocolate either in their hands or on their faces. Lovely.

"Well," I started, "I'm already having loads of fun, how abut you?" I asked, tossing an irritated glance over at Blaise. The bastard had the nerve to smirk, even though I can tell he was just as excited as I was.

After being at this, for lack of a better term, event for a grueling 30 minutes (5 of which were spent gawking at the ball of twine and 25 trying to avoid the large, loud, sweaty crowd of people surrounding us), I made my way back into the car. Blaise followed a minute later. I breathed a sigh of relief as we took off away from that… thing. I looked over at Blaise. His face was blank, but I know he was internally doing the same thing.

We drove for another hour or so and stopped at another hotel, this one significantly nicer than the last.

"Ugh. Thank you." I breathed.

Blaise gave a miniscule nod and walked into the hotel. I grabbed our things and followed slowly. See? I can be helpful, too. Sometimes. So there.

When we got to our hotel room, I again made my way to the farthest bed from the door and flopped down on my back. I smiled to myself as I hardly bounced on the comfortable mattress.

"Hey, Draco." I heard Blaise say. I sat up just in time to see Blaise pull a small box out of his pocket and toss it at me. I caught it swiftly. Hey! I wasn't seeker for nothing!

"What is it?" I asked without looking at the item in my hand. I was trying very very hard not to think about how warm the box still was from Blaise's pocket.

"Just look." Blaise mumbled and turned toward the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I opened the box and pulled out a snowglobe. Inside the globe was a small-scale replica of the ball of twine. I chuckled. My souvenir. I'll have to thank him.

On second thought, no. I've done enough thanking for the day.

-----

**A/N: **A huge, happy, thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed :) We really appreciate it! (Racheesi and IvySnowe)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill. Draco, Blaise, Hogwarts, and other proper nouns are J.K.'s. Not ours.

**Warning:** Again, you know the drill. There is slashiness galore. Enjoy or do not read :)

**Authors' note:** Aaaaand we are halfway through this lovely story :) We (IvySnowe and I) really appreciate all of the feedback we have gotten so far. Enjoy!

"_Hey, Draco." I heard Blaise say. I sat up just in time to see Blaise pull a small box out of his pocket and toss it at me. I caught it swiftly. Hey! I wasn't seeker for nothing!_

__

"What is it?" I asked without looking at the item in my hand. I was trying very very hard not to think about how warm the box still was from Blaise's pocket.

"Just look." Blaise mumbled and turned toward the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I opened the box and pulled out a snowglobe. Inside the globe was a small-scale replica of the ball of twine. I chuckled. My souvenir. I'll have to thank him.

_On second thought, no. I've done enough thanking for the day._

-----------------------------

His hands were on me, tugging the waistband of my loose sleep pants lower and lower. His mouth was attached to my neck, teeth nipping at my skin teasingly as he began to follow his hands in a torturously slow path down my torso.

I groaned loudly when his tongue slipped out to flick at my nipple, gripped the sheets of the bed when he moved lower and lower to teasingly lap at my belly button and soon…his hands had completely removed my comfortable pants and slid up the outside of my thighs, breath ghosting across my skin as his head lowered slowly, resting on my hip. I looked down at him and caught his lust darkened gaze as his lips parted and he…

…hit me in the head with a pillow. I sat up, blinking blearily and trying to rub the sleep from my eyes while Blaise stood over me, pillow in hand and ready to be slammed into me again. I scowled up at him as he smirked.

"You moan in your sleep. Must have been a great dream."

"Eat dirt, Zabini."

"I'm going to go eat. You coming?"

"Dinner? What?" I mumbled sleepily as I rolled over to look out of the window. Sure enough, it was significantly darker outside. I groaned. I didn't know if I'd be able to sit through dinner with Blaise.

"Sorry, mate. I'm not hungry." I said as I put my face into my pillow. No sooner had I said this, when my stomach growled loudly. Stupid body… betraying me… again.

The pillow was wrenched from its spot on my face and I saw Blaise's eyes. Very close. Our noses were inches apart. I gulped.

"Liar." He said. "Let's go."

He didn't need to tell me twice. I scrambled as fast as I could away from him and locked myself in the bathroom where I proceeded to use enough cold water to build a new lake around Hogwarts.

I sat through an awkward drive. Well, it was awkward for me. Blaise seemed pretty comfortable. The bastard. We pulled into yet another parking lot, this one with a small sign out front announcing that it was what appeared to be an Italian restaurant. Figures the git would find one in the middle of nowhere. But who was I to complain? I could go for some Italian.

Shut up. That wasn't…yeah, okay. It was.

We made our way into the small building and were led to a table by a cute waitress who chatted the both of us up, and took our drink orders once she realized that sarcasm and silence were the only replies she was going to get.

I took one of the menus before giving it up as a lost cause. I'd just get whatever the Italian idiot across from me was going to order. When it came to Italian food, I tended to let him take the lead.

No, that's not girly at all. I just want to eat good food. And the bastard has good taste. Damnit.

I sat through a delicious, albeit scarily awkward dinner, while Blaise did the strong, silent, staring thing.

Right dessert arrived, he turned to me and finally spoke.

"So… are you going to tell me what your problem is?" He asked lightly, as he picked up a cannoli and licked the excess filling off of the end before nibbling at the outside. I shifted in my seat and tried to find something more interesting to look at. That didn't work.

"Uh… no?" I squeaked.

His reply was to raise an eyebrow at me and continue to let his tongue flick around the tip of the delicious pastry. Fuck. It looked like the cannoli was getting to the part of my dream that I missed out on. Is it normal to be jealous of food? Because I would have taken great pleasure in stomping that dessert beneath my foot.

"Draco, be honest…there's something bothering you and it's starting to get annoying."

I tried to pay attention to him, really I did, but his tongue kept doing these amazing things to that cannoli, and when his lips wrapped around it to suck out some of the filling, I just about lost it. I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from the disturbingly erotic sight only to be met with the amused gleam in Blaise's own eyes.

"The only problem I have, is with the way you're molesting that cannoli. Merlin, Blaise, you're too much sometimes." I covered quickly, trying to hide my discomfort.

Blaise chuckled and set the cannoli down. "Better?"

"No. I need a drink."

"So you're really not going to tell me?"

"I'd rather not talk about it right now." I choked out as he picked the cannoli back up to continue eating it. I use the term 'eating' loosely.

Blaise finished the cannoli and sighed a very uncharacteristic sigh. "I saw a bar down the street. You still need that drink?"

"_Yes._" I groaned, shifting out of my seat and getting to the car as fast as I could.

-------

We walked into the bar that was pretty similar to the one we were in the night before. Same sort of griminess, same sort of patrons, and, thank Merlin, the same sort of drinks. I didn't even bother to check if Blaise was still near me as I practically sprinted to the bar, stared down the bartender, and ordered 4 shots of "the strongest shit you've got" and downed them all rapid-fire as they were placed in front of me. I then decided to slow it down a bit as I ordered one of those bottled Coronas.

As I made it through my second beer, I came up with an idea. I needed to do something to forget about Blaise Zabini. The more I drank, the better this idea sounded. I scanned the bar, past the opposite corner where Blaise sat staring at me, and found my target. She was a girl, very similar to the girl who damn near molested me the night before. I sauntered over to where she sat and flashed her a smile.

"Hey there." She said saucily.

"Hello, m'lady." I said, taking her hand and lightly brushing my lips across her knuckles. I could hear her gasp lightly. That was the great thing about these American girls; they loved British accents. I barely had to turn up the Malfoy charm before she was practically eating out of my hand.

After another beer, she led me out onto an empty space on the floor and we began to dance. I had my back to him, but I could feel Blaise's gaze burning holes in my back. Determined to forget about that irksome Italian, I moved closer and moved my hand to the back of her neck, threading my fingers through her dark curly hair. It was soft, just how I imagined Blai- No. This plan _will_ work. And I have just enough alcohol in my system to truly believe that. Just as I was about to kiss this girl, I was yanked back by my collar. I turned to see Blaise, almost shaking with anger.

"We leave. Now."

The girl nibbled at my ear. "Aw. Are you leaving? We were having so much fun…"

Blaise's hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me back to the car. All the while, I was angrily yelling.

"Stop it, you dumbfuck! You can't do this! I had a plan! You always always _always_ have to ruin my plan!!"

Blaise practically threw me against the car. I let out an '_Oomph_' as my back hit the passenger-side door and Blaise stood dangerously close to me.

"Did this plan," Blaise growled from deep in his throat, "involve dry-humping that slut in public?"

I scowled.

"As a matter of fact, it did. It was a brilliant plan created for the purpose of ridding me of my stupid thoughts. All that curvy goodness moving against me would have been great at fighting off thoughts of…" I broke off, already having revealed enough in my drunken stupor.

"..thoughts of what, Draco? Are you going to admit to me just what the hell you've been thinking of? I'd really love to know what exactly is going on in that head of yours." He didn't move back, but I could see his nose wrinkle at the scent of alcohol coming off of me

"No, I think I'd love to keep you in suspense about this for a really long time. Stop being so interested in the thoughts about you I have in my head. They're really none of your business." I wobbled and caught my balance by practically gripping the door behind me and Blaise's shoulder in front of me.

"Thoughts about me?" Blaise said, moving closer again. I could smell his cologne and it was even more intoxicating than the alcohol in my system. "I'm suddenly interested."

"Well, too bad." I mumbled, turning and struggling to open the car door. I managed to get inside, but Blaise stopped me from closing the door.

"What thoughts?" Blaise murmured, moving his face inches from mine.

I couldn't deal with this right now. Between Blaise and booze, I was getting one really confusing headache. I closed my eyes and, to my dismay, whispered pathetically, "Please. I'm too tired."

I didn't open my eyes, but I felt Blaise move away seconds before the car door gently shut. The ride back to the hotel was silent, as Blaise refused to talk, and I refused to even look at Blaise, opting instead, to put my aching head against the cool window of the car.

I managed to get the door of the car open again and stumbled from inside the car, managing to trip over nothing before feeling an arm wrap around my waist to steady me as I walked. Neither of us said anything at his uncharacteristic show as he opened the door to our room and led me to my bed, even being nice enough to pull off my shoes so I could sleep better. I hadn't even opened my eyes throughout all of this, having trusted my friend not to lead me wrong. Even a Slytherin has someone they can always trust.

His hands slipped away from me as I moved to lie back on the bed. My eyes opened slowly to see him leaning over me, his hand hovering partway between us before he pulled back slowly and crossed his arms. He looked away.

"Get some sleep, Draco…it's been a long night."

I nodded without a word and turned on my side, facing away from him.


End file.
